The image of uprooted trees, houses thrown atop cars, and pieces of homes piled high along Pontchartrain Drive are indelible on the memory. It doesn’t take much to recall the smell of mold growing on Sheetrock or the miles of bureaucratic paperwork it took to file for some kind of compensation.

People scrambled, struggled and focused on finding their way back to balance in life. New vocabulary words — contraflow, infrastructure, FEMA, MRE and blue roof — were introduced. Some, such as then-U.S. House Republican Rep. Denny Hastert of Illinois, expressed disbelief that the populace would want to stay in this area and suggested the area be bulldozed.

Carol Wolfram / The Times-PicayuneJohn Doherty, a graduate of Slidell High School now living and working in Denver, Colo., created a Hurricane Katrina memorial sculpture, 'Fleur de Triomphe,' which was dedicated by city officials Friday at the Heritage Park Memorial Plaza in Slidell. The sculpture features a 7-foot-high hurricane-shaped mark which symbolizes the height to which Hurricane Katrina storm surge rose at the exact point at which the sculpture has been installed. Doherty's mother, Pat Taylor, right, was among those on hand for the dedication. City officials participating in the ceremony were, from left, Councilman Sam Abney, Slidell Police Chief Randy Smith, Councilmen Joe Fraught, Buddy Lloyd and Bill Borchert, Slidell Mayor Freddy Drennan, and Council President Lionel Hicks. Drennan led the ceremony dedicating the sculpture, which he said will be helpful in teaching future generations the impact Katrina had on Slidell. 'It's hard for me to imagine, and I was here,' said Drennan, who was the Slidell Police Chief when Katrina hit made landfall Aug. 29, 2005. Drennan admitted the dedication was a bittersweet occasion. 'But at this point, it's more sweet than bitter,' he said.

Well, the doubters were wrong. They didn’t understand either the deep-spirited lure of our waterfront culture or our personal stamina and persistence — even stubbornness, if you will.

The city will never be what it was. Some parts were abandoned, and other parts were rebuilt to be better than ever because of the shear determination and iron will of citizens.

This same will is reflected in a 13-foot, 4-inch sculpture by John Doherty, who grew up in Slidell and now lives and works in Denver, Colo. He created it as a tribute to those who suffered and endured Katrina’s destruction.

“The idea came naturally for me. I grew up in Slidell and concluded that it was the least I could do when considering the countless volunteers that gave up their vacations to gut houses and clean up debris in Slidell and surrounding communities,” he explained.

Doherty designed the sculpture to symbolize three facets of post-Katrina life. He hopes it will stand as a memorial to the loss of lives and property that was suffered. He wants to honor the heroic deeds of many while the water was high, those who showed resilience to forge ahead in the face of extreme adversity. And, he wants to honor the volunteers who labored in difficult conditions just for the sake of helping their fellow man.

Handout artA graduate of Slidell High School, the 'Fleur de Triomphe' sculptor now lives and works in Denver, Colo.

Doherty, a 1984 Slidell High graduate, said, “It is my hope that young people in the future will look up at the water line inscribed on the monument and have respect for the devastation of powerful hurricanes. Additionally, I believe they should know about the extraordinary actions of the people in response to the storm.”

The sculpture stands in Heritage Park along Bayou Bonfouca as a man-made monolith created from a 24-inch diameter steel pipe with the top end cut on a geometric slope that is plated over with steel. The curve transitions into a stylized fleur de lis on top. The 7-foot water line is welded onto the base to mark the storm surge height at the location it stands. “The sculpture is bare steel that will continue to weather and rust over the years, yielding a natural brown and reddish-brown color,” he said.

The artist has enjoyed drawing and designing as long as he can remember and feels that his personal journey through art was primarily self-directed, a process that compounded over time. While a college student at Southeastern Louisiana University majoring in economics, he worked summers at Southern Shipbuilding in Slidell. That job gave him an appreciation for the properties of metals and the experience to achieve the desired results on steel using extreme amounts of force as well as finesse. “It is an interesting field that combines the elements of an art and a science,” he said.

His experiences guided his career. He lives in Colorado where he runs a steel pipe distribution and fabrication company. His art and his company mesh well because there is never a shortage of scrap steel to use for artistic sculptures. He also creates metal jewelry, which can be seen on his website, www.twistedfleurdelis.com or at www.etsy.com/shop/JohnDIron.

Even though he resides in Denver, he coincidentally visited Slidell for a surprise birthday party for his mother on Aug. 27, 2005.

“I would like to clarify that I am not a Hurricane Katrina victim and didn’t endure the hardships that countless thousands did, but I did join in on the mass evacuation the day before Katrina. Fortunately for me, I didn’t suffer the nightmarish conditions that thousands did. My brother and I were cooking gumbo and watching the weather forecasts on television, and it became apparent that this was going to be another Betsy or Camille or perhaps worse. On Aug. 28, I embarked on my first-ever hurricane evacuation, heading west to Houston.”

During the time that communications were down, he buried his angst in his love of creating things out of metal. His “Twisted Fleur de Lis” was inspired by the devastating results of the storm surge. The pieces were a means to react to the disaster and channel worry and energy in a positive direction. Many of those sculptures were sold to raise funds for fellow Slidell High classmates and teachers, and others were donated to various organizations as silent auction items.

For his most recent artwork, installed in Heritage Park, he solicited donations from Pipe and Piling Supplies in Nebraska, Integrity Burning Services in Colorado, Highland Pipe and Steel in Colorado, and ACME Truck Line in Louisiana. Those donations coupled with Doherty’s art and compassion for home has given our city a work that he is calling “Fleur de Triomphe.”

The sculpture is rooted in place at Slidell’s Heritage Park Memorial Plaza as a testament to the spirit and determination of people to survive, recover and overcome.